Hey everyone. I'm currently searching for for a graphics card in the $120>$150 price range. The best cards I have found so far that I can see is a HIS 6850 and the EVGA 550ti. Both are $139 on newegg.

So here's my problem. I've always been ATI graphics. My friend has always been ATI (he's one of those who will never go to Nvidia). But I can't see a reason not to buy the 550. I'm use to the ATI graphics drivers and have never a day in my life used anything Nvidia.

So here's the question. Is there anyone here who can sell me on Nvidia? or should I stay with ATI. (Please No one who is the "I hate ATI" so go with nvidia person and vice versa for nvidia)
I would just like for someone to sell me on the Nvidia or the 6850. I've done research and I've looked up reviews for both cards and cant honestly choose between the two.

Core clock on the 6850 is 775mhz and the 550ti EVGA is 951mhz. That's one reason I would go with the 550. But honestly I'm not a HUGE freak on having to have over 100 fps. I've played plenty of games and realized that 30fps is playable. I'd prefer 50+ but that's just preference. The only FPS I play is bf2 and I can play that just fine on my 4850 so either one of these cards is a huge step up.

To be honest it depends what you want. I've noticed that AMD/ATI cards tend to have lower power consumption and heat. For example, my GTX 580 supposedly can reach about 320w on maximum load while something like a 6970 used to only hit about 283w. Or heck, now that the new 7900 series cards have released, a Crossfire 7950 set up is supposed to be only around 360w. Yes that's right, 2 upper end 7950s only pulling 60 more watts than a single GTX 580. That's testament to AMD/ATI's goal for lower power consumption and they've done a great job.

But feature wise to sell people on Nvidia, there's CUDA and Physx. Although CUDA doesn't mean much to gamers, but it works well with apps that support it IE Adobe Photoshop CS5 and certain media converters. As for Physx, not too many games support it, but for the ones that do it really is extra eye candy. Some notable titles are Mafia 2, Alice, and Batman Arkham City.

At this point, I'm actually planning to go the AMD/ATI route myself whenever the 7870s release sometime in march. Whats selling me on those is going to be total power consumption, CF scaling, and Eyefinity support in which I will need for iRacing.

But to be more specific in your case, I don't know why you're even thinking twice considering the 6850 outperforms the 550Ti in almost all cases in where it matters by a sizeable margin, games.

it all personal preference and what you plan to do the most. If you plan to run a multi monitor I would recommend AMD. If you wanted a single larger display then Nvidia is the go to IMO. If you just game then that puts points to AMD. If you game and use your PC for work then Nvidia is a better option. If you have a lowish watt PSU then its points for AMD. If wattage flow's like water then Nvidia good:) That is how I tend to think.

Although I would wait to see what the 78xx cards have to offer before you buy.

Thanks. I saw reviews on power consumption as well for both cards and yes ATI is a hell of a lot better. I've been looking at the ATI card really hard anyways just cause a) I'm use to the drivers. b) Price/performance and c) because I saw that the ati card has massive room for overclocking.

Thanks for the answers guys this helps a boat load. Hope to hear more from others as well.

it all personal preference and what you plan to do the most. If you plan to run a multi monitor I would recommend AMD. If you wanted a single larger display then Nvidia is the go to IMO. If you just game then that puts points to AMD. If you game and use your PC for work then Nvidia is a better option. If you have a lowish watt PSU then its points for AMD. If wattage flow's like water then Nvidia good:) That is how I tend to think.
Although I would wait to see what the 78xx cards have to offer before you buy.

I personally don't see the point in buying a 7xxx series tbh. I don't need 300fps. I'm getting 50 fps on skyrim on medium settings with a 4850 which is older then dirt. I don't plan on getting any newer games either ANY time soon, as I havent found any that I honestly like. There are a few yes. But for the price of the new cards, they can keep them in the factory. Until i get a job making 50k+ a year I dont see the need in even buying stuff that expensive. I can deal with a tiny bit of lag every once in a while. I was blessed with patience fortunately so. Just the price is what gets me. I could go spend 300-400 dollars on something else. A huge monitor for example. New case maybe. Hella good motherboard and cpu just for overclocking. You know, the usual

i personally use ati, but their lack of driver support is very annoying. That is def 1 point for nvidia. Also, I believe nvidia folds better then ati cards if you even plan on doing that. But in the end, i think ati outperforms nvdia in a per $ basis

edit: if you want to spend little $, just get another 4850. It will perform similarly to a 6850 for much less Edited by DaXxJaPxX - 2/17/12 at 5:37am